1. Field of the Invention
A container member for accommodating a display panel that can effectively absorb an external impact to sufficiently prevent the impact from reaching the display panel within while minimizing deformation caused by an external stress, a method of manufacturing the same, and a display device having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Display devices are generally sorted into cathode-ray tube display devices and flat panel display devices. Flat panel display devices have replaced cathode ray tube display devices due to their light weight and thin thickness. Typical examples of the flat panel display devices include liquid crystal display devices (LCDs) and organic light emitting diode display devices (OLEDs). In comparison with the LCDs, the OLEDs have excellent brightness and viewing angle characteristics and require no backlight, so that the OLEDs can be realized as ultra thin display devices. The OLEDs are display devices using a phenomenon that electrons and holes injected into an organic thin film from a cathode and an anode are recombined to form excitons, and thus light having a specific wavelength is emitted by the release of energy resulting from de-excitation of the excitons.
Particularly, flat panel display devices are frequently used for small portable display devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and portable multimedia players (PMPs) in addition to large display devices such as televisions and monitors for computers. Since display panels used in the flat panel display devices to display a predetermined image are made of a fragile material such as glass, the display panels are accommodated in separate container members to protect the display panels from being damaged or deformed by external impact or stress such as drop impact. Such container members generally include a metal frame or a mold frame. The metal frame can prevent the display panel from being deformed by external stress owing to its high rigidity, however, the metal frame may damage the display panel in an assembly process upon external impact. To sufficiently absorb the external impact, the metal frame must be sufficiently thick, and thus its entire size is increased. In comparison with the metal frame, the mold frame facilitates the assembly process, and can minimize a size of the display device. However, due to lack of rigidity, the mold frame does not sufficiently prevent the display panel from being deformed by the external stress. What is therefore needed is a container for a display apparatus that is not too bulky, is less apt to damage the display apparatus during assembly and that adequately protects the display apparatus from damage due to external impact.